"Flying the big Jets"

[swashplate]

..by Capt Stanley Stewart

I often see a topic in this forum asking about this book by wannabees eager to 'gen up'....

Just to let you know, we have a large book sale on this week in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, Buckinghamshire, UK.

Earlier today (about 2pm), I saw a copy of this book for £6 on one of the stalls.

Sorry, can't remember the stall, but it was in the middle of the Middleton Hall (in front of John Lewis). Dunno whether it's been snapped up, only just got in... :confused:

Just thought I'd let y'all know...... :D

[Baldie Man]

Nice of you to post that swashy. I live miles from there but one thing someone may be able to tell me is: is it the same Stanley Stewart who was interviewed on the Black Box series of TV programmes? BA Captain I believe.

Just curious.

BM.

[flaps to 60]

Baldie

Yes it is the very same Stanley Stewart.

He allowed me the jump seat on a BA747 flight back into LGW for both take off and landing.

He was very kind and didn't mind me popping in the flight deck at any time during the red eye flight. It's a bit different nowadays.

Anycase he has written many books and are well worth reading just look in the Transair catalogue.

The Flying the Big Jets book (not to be confussed with Handling the Big Jets- another excellent publication by D.P. Davies) is like a mini ATPL course and well worth reading at any price.

[Baldie Man]

Ah thanks for clearing that up flaps to 60.

BM.

[Tinstaafl]

'Handling the Big Jets' is more akin to ATPL content.

'Flying the Big Jets' is more an interested passenger's / spotter's guide.

[Dan Winterland]

Agreed. 'Flying' is more for spotters. 'Handling' the one to read before the big interview. My last interview featured lots of questions that had answers within those pages.

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Well if we are promoting books I would add the following as an excellently readable insight to what actually happens on the flightdeck:

Series: "From the flightdeck" published by Ian Allen publishing Tel 01903 828 800 direct.

Several years back when I was doing the ATPL via distance learning I bought No10 in the series. Written by Bruce Campion-Smith it follwed a BA 777 flight from Gatwick to Atlanta.

It was an inspirational read for the times when grappling with Polar Sterographic charts and Gyroscopic Precession became just too much misery to bear. There is some useful technical info in the books but mostly they are aimed at giving you a real feel for the whole process of operating the flight from the pointy end.

WWW

[jasonjdr]

Try searching www.kelkoo.co.uk for the above books. I just tried 'Handling the big jets' and found it for £15 instead of the £25 you would fork out through Transair!

(and for that handy tit bit my commission will be only £2.50! Still a saving of £7.50!! :D :D :D )

[swashplate]

Sorry chaps, thought that was the one you were all after... :rolleyes:

I'll keep my eye out for "Handling the big jets", as we have regular book fairs every couple of months here in the People's Republic :eek: and you never know.....

They are always in the big 'Middleton Hall' in the shopping centre, in front of the John Lewis dept store, in case any of you wanted to check 'em out.

A few years ago, I picked up an excellent bio of Sir James Martin (of MB ejector seats fame) for a few ££. They always seem to have loads of mil/aviation stuff amongst all the other books.

Must agree with WWW on the Ian Allen 'From the flightdeck' series. :cool: The latest one (no 11) is about a BA 747-400 doing LHR-HKG.

[whisperbrick]

Hey swashplate,

I was in pizza hut in milton keynes last night, fancy a beer?.....
doh !

[OnTheBug]

An excellent book I'd like to recommend for wannabees is "Jetliners in service since 1952" by John Stroud.

Its a large collection of the development and operational histories of airliners from the Comet through to the 747 including Concorde. There are loads of flight plans and operating figures collated by the author on actual fights and the detail is excellent e.g sector payload, cruise technique, and v-speeds on a 737 flight from London to Glasgow.

Not cheap at £27 (Amazon) but I've seen a few knocking about for a few quid in second hand book shops.

OTB.

[Dan Winterland]

Got a couple of the 'from the flight' deck series. No 1, a BA 747 classic from LHR to Chicago is written by a pilot - in fact our old friend Stanley Stewart and is excellent. All the RT is verbatim, the checks and procedures very accurate. The other , No 8 from LHR to Singapore in a 744 is by chap called philip Birtles who doesn't appear to be a pilot and contains many innacuracies and uninformed observations. It's more of interest to the spotter.

I shall be reading No1 again as I'm moving from the 744 to the 747 classic soon. :eek:

[Non Iron Chippy]

Don't want to be advertising, but both 'Handling' and 'Flying' are available on BOL.com at prices a lot less than Transair.

www. I shall check out your recommendation.